In 2013, marketers ran slightly more direct response campaigns than brand advertising, but now brand advertising is increasing across the digital sphere. Overall 70 per cent of marketers increased the amount of budget allocated to digital brand advertising in 2014, a 15 per cent rise from last year.

The findings were highlighted in a survey by Nielsen, in conjunction with the CMO Council.

The growth in digital brand advertising corresponds with the growth in digital advertising itself as majority of marketers reported that they planned to use online and mobile platforms more, while their planned use of offline mediums either stayed the same or decreased.

About 81 per cent of marketers planned to increase their use of social and 65 per cent of marketers planned to increase their use of digital video for their advertising campaigns. According to the report, many marketers feel that these two formats are best suited for multi-screen campaigns; accordingly both formats have grown consistently since 2012. For digital videos in particular, 49 per cent of marketers say that shifting budget from offline advertising sources have funded the increased digital video activity.

The report states, “This reinforces how advertising budgets mirror consumer behaviors—as consumers increasingly move across more screens, advertising budgets are also shifting from an isolated, channel view to a more multi-screen approach.”